As the wealth gap continues to grow across America, many are wondering if technological advances will just make the lives of workers worse. But two Silicon Valley billionaires say not to worry—technology isn't the problem. In fact, they think innovators are the ones being left behind.

The remarks came from Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman, two men worth a combined $6.2 billion. The middle class should blame globalization, not technology, which are two completely separate concepts. Via Forbes:

"I'd say that people blame too much on technology, and the real problem is low-wage workers from India, China, places like that," he said. "I'm not against globalization. But I think that's the real pressure point on middle class wages in our world. We shouldn't scapegoat technology for it."

Thiel goes on to argue that if anyone has gotten a raw deal from capitalism, it's his own demographic. Forbes reports:

"When you think about the history of innovation more broadly, the past 200 to 250 years, it's a sobering fact how many inventors and creators of new things, how little they capture over time," Thiel said. "You have to create x dollars of value for the world and you have to capture y% of x. And in most cases y equals 0."

The Wright brothers didn't make money off of aviation, he pointed out, and even after the advent of the first factories and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, much of the wealth was still held by the aristocratic classes in Europe. In Silicon Valley, a similar split can be seen between software and cleantech, Thiel said.

The Wright brothers? Thiel is spinning so much bullshit, he can't even get his facts straight. The Wright's, in fact, made quite a fortune off aviation. They were so ruthless as businessmen, they've been labeled "greedy" by critics for over a hundred years.

Besides Thiel, one of the first backers of Facebook, should probably hold back complaining about people getting screwed out of their creations.

To contact the author of this post, please email kevin@valleywag.com.

Photo: Getty